by Iain Wilson

Created on: May 31, 2010

With every World Cup there is a World Cup game and South Africa is no different. There's usually not much difference from that year earlier FIFA instalment, but enough minor changes to encourage people to buy it - me being one of them, for just under £40.

The start up of the game is typical of EA, very professional and stylish looking with well laid out menus and graphics. The actual game itself following this blueprint.

The first noticeable difference when you kick-off for the first time is the improvement of the grass. Doesn't sound important, but I've always thought the grass in FIFA looks more like a big green carpet than perfectly manicured grass. It now looks a lot more like real grass with various marks spread all over it.

Surrounding the grass are superbly detailed stadiums, included are all the World Cup venues including Durban and Soccer City, as well as the home grounds for the major national teams when you're not playing in the World Cup, such as Wembley, Bernabeu, etc.

The players are also superbly detailed (the big names anyway), looking very much like their real life selves. Players such as Wayne Rooney, Xavi, Torres all look amazing, but once you go one of the smaller nations the resemblance is poor and difficult to make out who is who. Although you can't really blame them for not going through every team and perfecting every player, there are 199 teams after all.

Other changes to match day, out with the gameplay changes are the inclusion of manager reactions throughout the match. Again, only the big name managers from the major nations are included. These are quite good at first, but soon become annoying and just waste time, they can be turned off for offline play, but you're stuck with them when playing online.

Now onto the gameplay. There haven't been too many big changes. The game still plays pretty much the same as FIFA 10, but slightly more realistic. The way the players pass and shoot looks more natural, as do the much more acrobatic goalkeepers. The three main differences would have to be - there seems to be more movement from off-the-ball players, allowing putting together much better passing sequences. The second difference is the shooting. It now appears to be much easier to score, with long range efforts achievable, but not easy by any means. The third main change would have to be the superior crossing. Crosses can now be whipped into the danger area, where your striker is usually waiting to head home. This is good, because

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